


Punchline

by angelboygabriel



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Angst, Canon Divergent, Existentialism, Falling In Love, M/M, The Soul Stone - Freeform, alternate endings, no permanent deaths
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-23
Updated: 2018-05-23
Packaged: 2019-05-10 10:56:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,468
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14735651
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/angelboygabriel/pseuds/angelboygabriel
Summary: The Afterlife seems like it lasts forever.Forever is a long, long time.





	Punchline

**Author's Note:**

  * Translation into Русский available: [Кульминация](https://archiveofourown.org/works/17587052) by [RDJ and Stark (fandom_Robert_Downey_Jr_2017)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/fandom_Robert_Downey_Jr_2017/pseuds/RDJ%20and%20Stark), [remontada](https://archiveofourown.org/users/remontada/pseuds/remontada)



> Ugh I’m doomed to have this exact same style of writing it seems. Anyways, in Doctor Strange, it’s mentioned the Ancient One can’t see past her own death. I use that same principle with Stephen. This takes place in a reality Stephen THINKS they lose- Tony dies in place of Peter, as well as some other deaths just to make it DEPRESSING- so Stephen has no knowledge of what the future holds (for now.)

 

The Keeper of Time and the Merchant of Death die at the hand of a titan...

 

* * *

 

Tony Stark’s first experience with a new dimension is the Soul Stone. Or, more rightly so, _in_ it.

It’s eerily silent, a thin pool of water stretching out as far as the eye can see into amber mist and molasses-colored nothingness. In the distance, the ruins of an acropolis stand.

The water hardly ripples as Tony wades towards it.

He walks and walks and walks.

It could have been hours, or it could have been minutes. Time was an abstract variable removed from the equation.

When Tony reached the acropolis, Stephen was leaning against a pillar, gazing off into the tangerine haze.

“Welcome to the afterlife, Anthony.” he says flatly, and for once, Tony doesn’t laugh at the cut-and-dry humor.

Tony runs a hand through his hair, and is slightly disappointed to realize his suit didn’t stay on him in the afterlife. His hand was bare. “So we lost.” Tony comments, and Stephen just nods. He doesn’t turn to look at Tony quite yet, and Tony huffs in frustration.

“What could _possibly_ be so fascinating to stare at this big stinking pile of jack shit _nothing_.” he says crossly, and Stephen finally looks at him, eyebrow raised.

“It’s...” Stephen trails off. He makes a gesture like he’s pressing down on something. “Can’t you see all the layers?”

Tony shakes his head, and Stephen suddenly turns, catching him by surprise as he lays a hand on Tony’s head.

Tony inhales and his knees give out as he is abruptly able to _see_ everything in front of him.

Quill and a beautiful green woman, teenagers again, apologizing. Some raccoon and a tree being sitting sadly together. King T’Challa with an elegant woman holding his hand. Steve and Bucky, together in death as in life.

All of these images weren’t exactly _there_ , Tony could just feel them and it was like they were all superimposed onto one another.

There was a glimmer in the corner of his eye and he looked closer. He grabbed onto Stephen blindly as the glimmer suddenly flooded his periphery with a clear vision.

**(Was this another life?)**

_“Did you know I failed chemistry in high school?” Tony asks._

_They were sitting in bed, Tony’s reading glasses slightly crooked as he put down his copy of Slaughterhouse Five and Stephen gave him a sidelong glance. He was carefully playing with a crystalline blue butterfly. Stephen let it land on his skin and disappear, maybe sinking into him. Tony didn’t know._

_Stephen gave Tony his full attention at the abrupt statement._

_“...Really?”_

_“Oh yeah. My old man was livid. The problem with me is I struggle to see the small stuff. I’m too focused on the big picture.” He taps the arc reactor in his chest._

_“Besides, I’m mechanical, not chemical.” he adds and Stephen nods thoughtfully._

_“One would say that your body is entirely a series of minute chemical systems.” Stephen counters._

_“But it works_ like _a machine.”_

_“I think you need a balance of both for it to work in cohesive unity.”_

_“Kind of like us, huh?” Tony says with a small smile._

_Stephen leans over to kiss Tony’s forehead and Tony scoffs at the action, grabbing Stephen’s hand to delicately raise it to his lips in return._

_“My doctor.” Tony says._

_“My mechanic.” Stephen says back. He smiles sadly at Tony and puts his other hand over Tony’s._

_“You’re looking at the future.” Stephen tells him._

_“Tony, you’re looking at the future.” he repeats once more._

He says it again until Tony’s conscious suddenly shifts into focus and he gives a horrified gasp of air, blinking wildly as he looks around at the soul dimension, Stephen hovering above him.

“Are you back?” he asks, and Tony nods hesitantly.

“I’m sorry about that. You were able to use my magic for a second there and see forwards. I don’t how... nor do I know what you saw, but... you have to be careful using time, Tony.” Stephen explains, and Tony waves him off. He has more pressing questions than about potential futures, even ones where he looks _happy_.

“Stephen, what the hell was that?” he demands, and the Sorcerer looks mildly peeved.

“Magic.”

“I saw... I saw this dimension. But with the others. Are they here?” he asks, and they both sit to face each other.

“Not... exactly. The best way I can explain this dimension is like baklava. There’s the possibility of thousands of layers existing as part of each other, all overlapping but not quite touching. To the best of what I’ve been able to figure out from the history of the soul stone, it- the soul plane- has a very _specific_ placements of all that come to the dimension.” Stephen says, but Tony feels like he’s avoiding something.

“How does it place those that arrive?” he questions, and Stephen levels a look at him that makes Tony feel like someone has carefully opened his very mind with a scalpel.

“I believe... it pairs two halves of the same soul. The soul dimension exists for you and the person you love the most to stay together in any iteration of afterlife.” Stephen says very carefully, not breaking eye contact.

“Oh.” Tony comments.

His voice sounds small to his own ears. “Is that why in the future, we...”

“I didn’t see what you saw.” Stephen says. It’s a kinder tone than Tony expected.

“But... I did- I did see _one_. Only one in several million. The reality we’re in, this was a blind spot. What you saw, I was unable to because I’m not you. It’s messy to explain.”

“Do you know what we do now?”

“I have no idea.”

 

* * *

 

Tony tries to figure out the schematics of measuring time in a place that has none, and ultimately gives up when he finally accepts that it’s just a concept. It gives him an existentialist bout that seems to last awhile (however long _awhile_ is, they can’t tell) that just serves to annoy Stephen.

“Stop thinking so hard. You’re giving me a headache.” Stephen complains. Tony scowls at him and smacks the stone of one of the pillars.

Stephen watches boredly as Tony paces across the acropolis, wringing his hands.

“There’s got to be some way out of here.”

“We’re dead, Tony.”

“Are we really, though? Are we _really_ dead, Stephen?” Tony bursts out angrily, wheeling around to face him. “Because unless this is literal hell, I don’t believe it.” he says, voice wavering into a soft hiss. “This is... this is like I’m fucking living in a nightmare I can’t get out of.”

Tony wilts immediately after and sinks to the ground.

Stephen is a doctor, he knows the signs of a potential panic attack when he sees them. He sits down next to Tony, his cloak quickly going to wrap around Tony with a flourish. Stephen wraps an arm around Tony.

“Breathe.” he murmurs lowly, rubbing his back as Tony starts to cry. He raises his head rather suddenly, scrubbing his face and giving a shaky breath.

“Jesus Christ, I’m a fucking mess.” he laughs weakly. He sinks sideways into Stephen’s arms, and they don’t say a word after that. Tony eventually falls asleep after Stephen takes to rubbing his arm gently.

Stephen doesn’t sleep. He doesn’t know how long it’s been since he has.

 

* * *

 

“Can you see Peter?” Tony asks at some point.

Stephen was exhausted. They’d tried magic, portals, science, hope- there was no way out of this dimension. Even Stephen’s cloak had seemed to have given up, lying lifelessly on Stephen’s shoulders.

Tony watches as he gets this distant look in the eye as he gazes out into the orange nothing, and they’ve been rotting in this cursed place for _so long_ Tony knows that’s what Stephen looks like when he turns his eye to other planes and dimensions. The Soul Stone prevents them from looking anywhere besides where this... is.

“He’s not here.” Stephen says after a heartbeat, and Tony feels relief flood his heart. So the purple bastard kept his word and really did spare Peter’s life in exchange for Tony’s.

Stephen laces their fingers together, and Tony puts their hands over his heart, eyes meeting.

“It wouldn’t be an absolute tragic waste of eternity if I had to spend it here with you forever.” Tony whispered. Stephen stepped into his space, crowding Tony even more against the pillar. He looked at Tony’s lips and Tony felt a pleasantly warm feeling bubble up in his chest.

“Forever’s a long time, Tony.”

“Then it’s a good thing time doesn’t exist.”

 

* * *

 

If Stephen had to guess by Earth standards, they’ve been trapped in the Soul Stone for upwards of seven months now. But there was no way to tell. His was grateful for some odd discrepancies, like the fact they didn’t need to eat, drink, go to the bathroom or sleep, really, as well as the fact that boredom never truly set it. Stephen was grateful for that. He would’ve lost his mind.

He and Tony had walked out, out, out into the orange mist to find nothing. Nothing moved, nothing changed.

(At least on the outside. Stephen swore he could _feel_ Tony in his very soul now.)

Stephen would practice spells until they were perfect, and Tony had taken to meditating, with the help of his dimensional companion.

Tony told his life story.

Stephen told his.

“I don’t know if I’ll be able to marry Pepper when I get back.” Tony said after immeasurable minutes. He wasn’t that surprised.

You know someone for _so long_ that they’re all you can come to be with.

“I’m not terribly shocked. We’ve been here long enough that I feel like all my emotional connections are gone except for you.” Stephen replied. Tony nodded thoughtfully.

 

* * *

 

“What was it like, seeing all those futures?” the inevitable question finally comes.

He knew he couldn’t avoid Tony asking, but Stephen still winces.

“I learned you.” Stephen answers, and Tony side eyes him a bit.

“Don’t look at me like that. You know what I’m getting at... Hell, you’ve seen a future too.” Stephen snaps, and Tony tosses his hands up in defense.

“You spend so much time getting to know someone inside and out and it’s impossible not to... deeply care for them at least a little bit. I have spent millions of moments with you. I know how you work, Tony. You’re like... you’re a unique machine.” Stephen confesses, and Tony looks at him strangely.

_(“One would say that your body is entirely a series of minute chemical systems.”)_

“What did you say?” Tony asks, confusion racing through his mind. He remembered that _so long ago_ when Stephen helped him look into the future.

Stephen looks little confused too as Tony gets up in his space and searches his face for something.

“...you are a unique machine.” Stephen says slowly, and Tony’s expression relaxes slightly. “But I’d argue that you are too a-“

“-series of minute chemical systems.” Tony finished for him. Stephen’s brow furrows and he tilts his head to this side.

“How did you know I’d say that?”

“I just knew it.” Tony said with a smirk. “Tell me, _Doctor_... in any of your realities, did we ever do this?”

“Do wha-“

Stephen is cut off by Tony standing on his tiptoes, fingers digging into his shoulders to kiss him softly.

Stephen blinks when Tony pulls back.

“Fuck.” he breathes after a heartbeat, and then grabs Tony. This time it’s not _nice_ or _slow_ or _patient_ , it’s the buildup of a billion moments and then some. Tony sways heavily into him, arms hooking beneath his as Stephen kisses and licks into his mouth and Tony eagerly lets him.

They broke apart with a gasp and Tony looked at him in shock.

“Stephen... how fucking long have you been waiting for me?” he asked, and Stephen just shook his head.

“Forever, I think.”

Tony ran a hand over Stephen’s shoulder.

“Let me give you eternity in thanks.”

 

* * *

 

Eventually, Thanos is defeated by the hand of the mighty Captain Marvel and her team of heroes.

Tony, Stephen, and the quadrillions of other lives are suddenly restored in the universe, Tony and Stephen coughing up dust on Titan before arms are dragging them through a portal and several faces surround them. Wong closes a portal shut and Tony sits up, looking around. Past the few people, they’re laying in some big field. He looks at Stephen, then looks at the face of Peter Parker, tears streaming down the teen’s face.

“Mr. Stark.” He finally sobs before he catches Tony in a crushing hug, crying into his shoulder. Tony gently pats his back, squeezing him back.

“I thought I’d lost you forever.” he whispers shakily, and Tony feels his heart break.

“This fine young man helped us with the plan to defeat Thanos. You should be very proud of him, Anthony. He is incredibly smart... and very brave. On Asgard he would be an honored warrior.” Tony squints up at the sound of Thor’s voice, his face blocking the sun. Peter seems to remember he’s there and suddenly springs up, still red faced from crying but excited nonetheless.

“This is Thor!” Peter says, and Thor proudly nods, slapping a beautiful dark skinned woman on the shoulder.

“This is Valkyrie!” Thor says. Valkyrie jerks a thumb at a tall blonde woman.

“This is Carol, the only bitch in this universe that could save our sorry asses.” Valkyrie says.

Tony and Stephen are still a bit dazed but everyone understands their disorientation, helping them up.

“Where’s everyone else?” Stephen asks, letting Wong and Peter help him along as he stumbles. Thor’s got a pretty good grip on Tony.

“They’re safe, don’t worry. The life order is restored and your other friends have already found their way to Wakanda. We just wanted to show you something.” Valkyrie says as they walk up a grassy hill. The seven reach the top and look down into a completely decimated valley.

Everything within a reasonable radius is blackened and burnt, scorch marks like an explosion coming out from the center, where Thanos is.

Well, his body. His head is to the side, a huge axe buried in the ground beside it.

Thor and Carol share a knowing look with each other.

“Welcome back to the land of the living, boys.” Carol says sunnily. Valkyrie smiles placidly by her side.

Tony and Stephen can barely process the too-colorful landscape of the living, let alone Thanos, dead.

“Let us get them back home.” Wong says sagely and the others agree.

_There’s a joke here somewhere._

 

* * *

 

The Mad Titan kills Tony Stark and Stephen Strange but they don’t die.  
He does.

 


End file.
